Barclays

Capital markets this week finally faced up to the possibility of the UK voting to leave the European Union in next Thursday’s referendum. There was a distinct whiff of panic in European bond markets, after latest polls showed the Leave campaign was not only gaining momentum but establishing a lead, prompting investors to race into safe haven assets such as Bunds and US Treasuries and selling out of bonds of issuers most likely to be affected by Brexit.

Ethypharm, the French pharmaceutical firm, has allocated a €337m seven year term loan ‘B’ at tighter pricing than initial guidance, following a heavy oversubscription.

Asia’s bond markets have remained resilient despite a Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week and rising concerns about the UK referendum on European Union membership. With deal flow building up for next week, bankers said Asian issuers stand to benefit from volatility in Europe, writes Narae Kim.

Barclays has appointed Anthony Davies as chief executive of the bank's Hong Kong branch, according to sources.

As European leveraged finance markets skid towards next week's UK referendum on EU membership, French glass bottle maker Verallia this week combined bonds and loans to cut its debt costs and pay Apollo Global a dividend.

US fashion brands group PVH Corp on Tuesday sold its first bond in the euro high yield market, amid growing concerns that the UK could vote to leave the European Union.

Citadel Securities, the market making business, has made a senior FICC sales hire from Barclays to its Chicago office.

Basic-Fit, the low cost gym group, made its debut on Euronext Amsterdam on Friday morning, after an IPO that was priced towards the bottom end of its range on Wednesday.

The IPO of ASR Nederland, the second biggest this year in Europe after that of Dong Energy, reached a successful conclusion one day later than Dong’s, when the stock rose 2.6% on its first day of trading on Friday.

French glass packaging maker Verallia plans to sell the second largest single-B rated tranche of the year on Monday, after a pumping week of high yield issuance.

The response to some of this week’s dollar deals has got some bankers believing that next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting might not prove to be the market shutting millstone that it had promised to be just a few weeks ago.

The Irish telecommunications firm Eircom Holdings on Tuesday issued a benchmark size secured bond 25bp inside guidance levels — giving heart to issuers that would rather not wait for the UK referendum result.